9 Contractors Cited at Luxury Home Site

DORAL, FL—Million-dollar-plus homes in a new Florida development now have an additional price tag: more than $150,000 in safety fines from the top of the contracting chain to the bottom.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to nine contractors after an inspection in November at Oasis Park Square in Doral, a new development of 150 homes priced between $1 million and $1.5 million.

All of the violations are classified as either repeat or serious.

OSHA said workers on the site were exposed to 35-foot falls, exposed rebar, eye injuries, and other hazards.

"Shoma Alliance Management Corp. and its contractors exposed their employees to numerous safety hazards or permitted multiple risks, including falls that could have resulted in death or serious injury," said Condell Eastmond, director of OSHA's Fort Lauderdale Area Office.

Four of the nine companies have previous OSHA records.

Violations

The violations are as follows.

Garmon, Zavala, Blue Panther, PP All, Unity Windows, New World and L.C. Service Drywall were each cited for fall-protection violations after allowing employees to work unprotected at heights up to 35 feet.

PP All, Fast Carpentry and New World were each issued one serious violation for poor housekeeping. PP All was also inspected in 2014 and cited for scaffolding, fall protection and lack of training.

Garmon Construction received two additional serious violations for not maintaining an accident prevention program and for leaving wood and debris around the work site. Garmon was last inspected in 2004 and was issued two serious citations at that time for fall protection and training.

Fast Carpentry was issued a repeated citation for not providing fall protection. The company was also inspected in 2011 and 2013 and was cited for four violations related to fall protection, training and ladders.

Four of the nine companies cited in the Oasis Park Square project have records with OSHA.

Unity Windows received a serious violation for improper ladder use. That company was issued three citations in 2007 related to hazard communications, power tools and electrical hazards.

Zavala Associates was issued four additional serious citations for lack of head protection and eye protection, lack of fall-protection training and failure to cover exposed rebar ends.

PP All received serious violations for lack of fall-protection training, lack of eye protection, failure to cover rebar ends, and failure to install a handrail on a stairway.

New World received one serious citation for failure to install a handrail and one other-than-serious citation for lack of a hazard communication program. Employees were working with products containing silica dust, OSHA said.

L.C. Drywall also received a serious citation for the lack of a handrail and four additional ctitations for lack of a guardrail around a landing where employees were working; scaffolding violations; and fall-protection violations.

Developer Responds

In an email to the Miami Herald, Masoud Shojaee, chairman of Shoma Group, said worker safety is “paramount” to the Doral-based developer.

Masoud Shojaee, president and CEO of developer Shoma Group, says he will take "a much more aggressive approach with contractors who do not adhere to the strict safety requirements of OSHA."

“I will be taking a much more aggressive approach with contractors who do not adhere to the strict safety requirements of OSHA,” Shojaee wrote.

The luxury development features customizable homes with four or five bedrooms, wine cellars, personal rooftop retreats with outdoor kitchens, hot tubs and other high-end amenities. Reports say the suburban Miami development is aimed at, and is being bought by, wealthy Venezuelans.

Falls are the leading cause of death in construction and a leading cause of OSHA citations.